


Jeremy Heere: Everyone's Gay Awakening

by smoothmovebro



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Never Have I Ever, Oblivious Jeremy, Post-Squip, all the boys are gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 22:18:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12591756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoothmovebro/pseuds/smoothmovebro
Summary: A game of 'Never Have I Ever' has never been this interesting. Rich, Jake, and Michael have a lot more in common than they think.





	Jeremy Heere: Everyone's Gay Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> written for 2017 nanowrimo  
> i know i have a few more chapters of 'not him' to update. this is what i meant by my big exams affecting updates. the chapters are well on their way and i'll upload as soon as i can.

“No way! I never thought you did that!”

Christine blushes as she curls her finger into her hand. “You do the craziest things while doing character research,” she says to Brooke.

“I had a vague idea,” Jenna says, “but not to that extent.”

Chloe nods. “Sneaking into a club with no fake ID?” She points at Christine. “You’re cooler than I thought.”

“Thanks,” Christine replies. She looks at the boys in the circle. “I pick… Jeremy next!”

All eyes turn on Jeremy and the lanky boy gulps. So far, in their game of Never Have I Ever, he’s only put down one finger for “never have I ever had a bar mitzvah”. He looks around at his friends – his squad, he dares to call them sometimes – and ponders what they could’ve done that he hasn’t.

He’s already scratched out the obvious ones. Played sports and won, done modelling jobs, portrayed Juliet in a play, and started a hashtag overnight, among others. He targets people first before going vague to add to the excitement of discovering new things about each other. He scans his friends’ faces once more, formulating something specific in his mind. He’s tipsy from the spiked punch Jake gave them all so he doesn’t stutter when he says his prompt.

“Never have I ever knew I wasn’t straight because of a person in this room.”

The girls have their own reactions of confusion at his statement. Christine tilts her head. Jenna stares at a distant point like she’s looking at the camera in _The Office._ Brooke looks to her left and right to see if anyone’s put down a finger. Chloe rolls her eyes. None of the girls put down a finger.

Meanwhile, the boys are a sight to behold. For three seconds, they are all frozen in their places on the floor. Their expressions are blank yet contemplative. All their eyes have gone wistful and distant. Finally, their reactions kick in. Michael gulps and shifts in his cross-legged position. Jake’s eyes widen and he looks down at his hands, now down to two fingers. Finally, Rich scowls and mutters a curse under his breath.

The three boys look at each other. Rich nods. They all proceed to curl a finger into their hands. Jeremy and the girls gasp.

“What!” Chloe exclaims. She glares at Jake and Jake shrugs.

“No way!” Christine says. She’s more in awe of the coincidence than the actual revelation.

“Spill the details,” Jenna says. She’s already brought out her phone and started filming.

Michael, Rich, and Jake all look at each other and start discussing. “Who goes first?” Michael asks. He’s thankful that his headphones conceal the creeping blush on his neck. He sees Rich squirm so he makes the assumption that-

“I’ll start,” Jake says.

* * *

Jake, sophomore year

After gym class, Jake Dillinger was the first to sprint into the locker room to shower and get changed. He did, after all, finish first at their track training. Because of that, he was dismissed first before the teacher turned to the other students to lecture them about keeping up with Jake.

He was already drying off and getting changed as the rest of the boys came in to begin showering. After he put on his shirt, he could hear Rich pick on Jeremy Heere.

“’S matter, tallass?” Rich teased. He snapped his towel at Jeremy’s ass, making the other boy flinch and squeak. “Scared to take off your shirt?” He barked out a laugh and a few others join him. Rich then proceeds to change and chat with Dustin about his latest hookup: a girl named Samantha that he met at this party.

Jake shook his head and started gathering his dirty clothes. He turned his head to sneak a glance at Jeremy, to check if the boy is okay.

In hindsight, he shouldn’t have done that.

Jeremy has removed his shirt and he was talking amicably with Michael Mell, who tagged along with him into the change room despite skipping out on today’s class. They are laughing and poking at each other’s sides. Jake could see the sweat highlight and glisten on Jeremy’s chest. The lanky boy throws his head back in a laugh and his dark hair flips in such a playful way that Jake had to wonder if hair could even do that.

Jake gulps and tugs at the neckline of his shirt. It’s not that Jeremy is physically fit; the boy couldn’t be any further than that. It’s the contentedness in his own skin that drew in Jake. How Jeremy is at ease with his own body despite it not having the same muscle mass as an average boy his age. How he moved with grace and poise instead of recklessness and cockiness. Perhaps those play rehearsals built on his coordination.

Jake’s attention diverted when Jeremy turned and made eye contact with him. Jake cleared his throat, blinked, then looked down at his bag and pretended to shuffle around some things in there. Jeremy shrugged and continued talking with Michael, all while changing into a new shirt.

Jake left the change room abruptly and jogged to catch up with Rich to ask about Samantha. That moment in the change room seared into the back of his mind, never to be brought up again until now.

* * *

“Is that why you took so long that day?” Rich asks. He whoops. “You ­ _gay_ motherfucker!” he says with a hearty laugh.

“I believe the term is pansexual?” Jake retorts.

The whole circle falls silent. Rich blinks and clears his throat. “I’ll go next.”

* * *

Rich, freshman year

Another painful day of not being noticed. Another gruesome battle with his inner demons. Another exhaustive trial at keeping up with schoolwork. Rich trudged to school, gloomy and spiteful after another fight with his dad. His shoulders were hunched and he clung to the straps of his backpack. He stuck to the walls as he walked down the hallway, eyes downcast knowing full well he might as well not exist.

Lunch was the few hours of reprieve from this mess of a first year at high school. At least during lunch, he could watch people talk with their friends and he could pretend to be one of those friends. He would tune his ears into the conversation and pick up stories and comments. He would giggle into the sleeve of his hoodie when he heard someone from the table behind him crack a joke. Lunch was the prime time to people watch and fantasise about what he could have.

While he preferred to keep it interesting by focusing on new people every day, there was always this one boy Rich would fixate on. Whether it be checking on him at the start of lunch then moving on to today’s target, or mapping out his path in the cafeteria so he could pass by his table and catch a glimpse of what he’ll be eating, Rich spent every day admiring this kid from afar and wondering what it would be like to talk to him.

The kid was lanky, pale, had a red backpack, and a dark brown mop of hair that swooped and bounced with every move he made. He always sat with that anti-social headphones kid with the red hoodie. He had a kind face and a heart-warming smile. He was gangly and awkward but Rich somehow found it adorable.

After a few weeks of passing by the kid’s table, Rich finally caught a name: Jeremy. After linking up a few more details, Rich mapped out that Jeremy was in his 4th period English class with Mrs. Sharp. Rich always sat at the back while Jeremy sat somewhere in the middle of the back with the headphones kid close by.

Now with a name, Rich couldn’t think of anything else besides Jeremy. Somehow, the new yet simple information of a name improved Rich’s perception of Jeremy tenfold. His smile seemed much more heart-warming. His face looked kinder and even crossed the line of cute sometimes if Rich was feeling particularly lonely that day.

The true tipping point for Rich was the day he made contact with Jeremy. It was a reading lesson in English, where they were set loose in the library to find a book to read for the rest of the period. Rich wandered by the shelves, running his fingers across the spines of books, when his fingers grazed against someone else’s.

Rich looked up and found Jeremy eyeing the book Rich had his finger on. He looked down at their almost interlacing fingers and Rich jerks his hand away from the shelf. His hoodie was up so he freely blushed as he turned the other direction and fled. He retreated three shelves down and got up on the tips of his toes to watch Jeremy.

The lanky boy stood there with a furrowed brow, wondering what just happened. Jeremy looked at the book he was searching for and took it off the shelf. He walked over to the table where the headphones kid was sitting and pulled up a chair beside him.

* * *

“ _You_ were the weird hoodie kid from the library?” Jeremy squawks.

“Shut up, tallass!” Rich says. He doesn’t lunge at Jeremy like he used to but now he’s rubbing at his cheeks to hide a furious blush there.

Michael laughs. “And for the main event of the evening!” he declares.

* * *

Michael, 13 years old

Puberty was a weird time in Michael’s life. He got taller, his voice would crack every time he tried to sing, and he would sometimes wake up to soaked sheets. He came to accept the weirdness because he had the assurance of 5th grade biology at his side. This was a normal time in his life, many others before him have gone through it before, and there was nothing to be afraid of.

What the textbooks didn’t teach him, though, was how to deal with other people going through puberty. More specifically, how to deal with your best friend going through puberty.

With hindsight, puberty didn’t do much to Jeremy. While he got taller and his jaw became more defined, his face didn’t change or anything. But his body, oh, _his body._

There are three kinds of toned bodies. The first kind is the one that is obvious. The kind that means frequent visits to the gym and going on diets. The second kind is a mellowed-out version of the first one. It usually means the persona only got toned as a result of their personal circumstances like manual labour or doing a sport. And finally, _finally_ , there’s the third kind: the one that oozes potential. Almost like the body was _primed_ to get fit and become stronger with time.

Jeremy, Michael found on one unfortunate day, got the third kind of toned body.

It was the summer before 8th grade and they were throwing water balloons at each other in the park. After running out of balloons, they went back to their spot and rifled through their bags to change. Michael dressed without delay and freshened himself up by taking a long swig from his water bottle.

While drinking, Michael found Jeremy taking longer. The other boy was muttering something about swearing he put that shirt somewhere. Michael choked on his water when Jeremy stretched across their mat to grab for his towel.

His torso had the subtle lines and muscles of a dancer. Each movement made those muscles shift and ripple to a languid rhythm that hypnotised the eye. Michael stared with a slack jaw. He didn’t have a word for it at the time, but boy, was he feeling some feelings.

The moment ended when Jeremy sat back down and triumphantly raised his clean shirt above his head. He put it on and grabbed Michael’s water bottle from him without Michael realising.

Michael didn’t have time to protest, not when he felt a shooting pain in his pants when he shifted in his spot. He looked down on himself and found a tent in his shorts. Thinking it was the way the fabric folded, he pushed down on the bulge but he yelped. _Definitely not just his shorts_ , he thought. He cleared his throat and excused himself from Jeremy before fleeing to the public toilets.

* * *

 

Jake cups a hand over his mouth. Rich is stifling giggles. Jeremy stares at Michael.

Michael shrugs. “And that is the story of my first erection.”

The girls roar in laughter. “No way!” Christine says.

Jeremy has his hands on either side of his head. “Holy shit,” he mutters. “You all realised you were gay because of me.”

“I mean, you’re kinda cute, dude,” Jake says. Chloe glares at Jake once again. Rich slaps at Jake’s arm. Jake makes a confused face and shrugs. “It’s true.”

“Oh my god.” Jeremy buries his face in his hands. He recomposes himself and picks the next person.

“Jenna’s turn.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are always welcome here <3


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